Gripla - 20.12.2010, Side 29

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assumption that the A-version is the oldest one.35 Three main editions of
the B-version of Þorláks saga helga are in existence from the years 1858,36
197837 and 2002;38 in addition, there is an edition of Þorláks saga helga
from 1989,39 which presents the A-version and sections of the B- and
C-versions, as well as parts of the so-called Jarteinabók I and II.40
Furthermore, there are books and articles about St Þorlákr himself,41 and
the manuscript AM 382 4to has been referred to in a number of publica-
tions besides the editions.42 Interestingly, of the major editions of the
B-version of Þorláks saga helga, only the first, the Biskupa sögur from 1858,
mentions the Latin praise poem for St Þorlákr, which is preserved on the
first recto page of AM 382 4to.43
The poem has been transcribed at least four times. Three of the tran-
scriptions were published, while one, by Jón Sigurðsson, survives in
JS 537 4to. None of the transcribers, however, offer more than a couple of
35 See e.g. Jón Böðvarsson, “Munur eldri og yngri gerðar Þorláks sögu,” Saga 6 (1968): 81–94,
and Brønsted, Jacobsen, and Danstrup, Kulturhistorisk leksikon, s.v. “Þorláks saga helga.”
36 Guðbrandur Vigfússon, Biskupa sögur I.
37 Jón Helgason, Byskupa s†gur I.
38 Ásdís Egilsdóttir, Biskupa sögur II.
39 Ásdís Egilsdóttir, Þorláks saga helga.
40 In her introduction to the Íslenzk Fornrit edition (2002), Ásdís Egilsdóttir gives a detailed
description of further publications and translations of the Biskupa sögur and Þorláks saga
helga (Ásdís Egilsdóttir, Biskupa sögur II, CXXXV et seq.).
41 See e.g., Brønsted, Jacobsen, and Danstrup, Kulturhistorisk leksikon, s.v. “Þorlákr helgi
Þórhallsson”; Sigurður Sigurðarson, Þorlákr helgi og samtíð hans; Gunnar Kristjánsson,
Saga biskupsstólanna. – See page 33 and index of names (nafnaskrá) ‘Þorlákr Þórhallsson
Skálholtsbiskup’ on page 831 in last-mentioned book for further literature.
42 See e.g., Didrik Arup Seip, Palæografi B: Norge og Island (Stockholm, Oslo, Copenhagen:
Albert Bonniers; H. Aschehoug & Co.; J.H. Schultz, 1943–1954); Jón Helgason, ed.,
Byskupa s†gur. MS Perg. fol. No. 5 in the Royal Library of Stockholm (Copenhagen: Ejnar
Munksgaard, 1950), 7–22; Jón Helgason, Handritaspjall (Reykjavík: Mál og Menning,
1958); Ole Widding, Hans Bekker-Nielsen and Laurence K. Shook, “The Lives of the
Saints in Old Norse Prose: A Handlist,” Mediaeval Studies 25 (1963): 294–337; Stefán
Karlsson, Sagas of Icelandic Bishops, 9–61; Erik Eggen, The Sequence of the Archbishopric of
Nidarós. 2 vols. (Copenhagen: E. Munksgaard, 1968); Brønsted, Jacobsen, and Danstrup,
Kulturhistorisk leksikon, s.v. “Þorláks saga helga”; Hreinn Benediktsson, Linguistic Studies,
Historical and Comparative (Reykjavík: Institute of Linguistics, 2002); Már Jónsson,
“Fyrstu línur á blaðsíðum skinnhandrita: fyrir ofan eða neðan efsta strik?” Gripla 8 (2002):
217–230; Már Jónsson, “Megindlegar handritarannsóknir,” Lofræða um handritamergð.
Hug leiðingar um bóksögu miðalda, by Ezio Ornato, trans. Björg Birgisdóttir and Már Jóns-
son (Reykjavík: Sagnfræðistofnun Háskóla Íslands, 2003), 7–32.
43 Guðbrandur Vigfússon, Biskupa sögur I, XLIII.
THE FORGOTTEN POEM